To obtain an image focused at a desired distance with the same photographic field after shooting with a typical camera (Patent Document 1), it is necessary to perform shooting repeatedly while the focus of a photographic lens of the camera is shifted, and acquire a plurality of image data sets at different shooting distances. Meanwhile, a technique is known (Non-Patent Document 1) which can form a synthetic image focused at a desired distance with the same photographic field after shooting by using data obtained by one shooting.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-211418
Non-Patent Document 1: Ren Ng and five others, “Light Field Photography with a Hand-held Plenoptic Camera”, [online], Stanford TechReport CTSR 2005-02, [searched Jun. 14, 2006], Internet http://graphics.stanfbrd.edu/papers/libamera/libamera-15 0dpi.pdf>